Thursday, September 1, 2011

It All Comes Out in the Wash

This Lexar 4GB compactflash card survived not one, but two trips through the washing machine.

It has been said that, "It all comes out in the wash." But, in this case...it didn't. After running this card through the wash not once but twice, none of the images on my compact flash card were gone. It's not like it's a big mystery as to what's inside this little piece of plastic. Or, is it? I decided to call Lexar and see if they could de-mystify it for me.

I spoke with "Zach" at Lexar Support explaining how I'd washed my card...twice.
Zach: "You're probably lucky you didn't lose any images or corrupted the card.
Me: "I just read a whole slew of testimonials on Lexar's homepage of people who've swam with their cards, rescued a dog in a river, retrieved their camera from a fire...It's not like there is any moving parts inside the card. Right?"
Zach: "You're correct. It's a solid card, no moving parts. Inside of the card are connections printed on a circuit board and a little tiny memory chip."
Me: "So I could wash the card again?"
Zach: ...long pause
Me: "Hello?"
Zach: "Ah, well...I would say that. The cards were not designed for extreme conditions."
Me:...thinking...so I could wash them on a delicate cycle with my Victoria Secret collection?
Zach: "Hello?"
Me: "Well, exactly HOW could I ruin a card?"
Zach: "We don't recommend that."
Me: "But suppose I did ruin my card? How does that usually happen?"
Zach: "Well...typically...people ruin their cards when they take them out of their camera before the camera has finished writing the image to the card. Or when people pull their card out of a card reader without properly ejecting it."
Me: "So I shouldn't wash my card again?"
Zach: "....is there anything else I can help you with?"

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About 31 Days - 31 Photos...and beyond?

What started as a 31 day photo project has become something more. It's been a terrific spiritual photographic journey. It's been a wonderful opportunity to shoot photos and tell stories. At Day 31 I decide I would continue the journey of shooting photos and telling people's stories as well as my own story.